Oldtown Celtic boss McLaughlin feels the heat despite 12-point lead in the league

Oldtown Celtic maybe 12 points ahead at the top of the Glencar Inn Saturday Division 1 league table, but manager Tam McLaughlin knows that the further the league competition goes on in the season, the greater the pressure mounts. 

McLaughlin’s side are sitting at the top of the division with 43 points with 15 games played, with Keadue Rovers behind them on 31 points with 14 games played. 

And while Oldtown are going for their third league in-a-row, McLaughlin knows there’s still a lot of football to be played before they can reclaim the title. 

“We’re in the semi-final of the Ulster shield, we’re still in the League Cup, so there’s still a lot of football to be played yet, it’s an old cliché but we really have to just take it one game at a time,” said McLaughlin. 

The team has also boosted a near-perfect season as they’ve only drawn one game this season back in December to Glencar Celtic. In fact, the Saturday side hasn’t lost a match in 16 months but the Oldtown boss worries that the number of injuries within his squad might play a crucial part in deciding the league winners later in the year.  

“The club is flying at the moment, it’s a real testament to the players considering the number of injuries we’ve had,” McLaughlin noted. “We’ve struggled all Christmas but we’ve still been picking up results and winning even though every game has been a battle. 

“It doesn’t matter how good the players are, if you don’t have a squad you can be in a lot of trouble. I think twice this season we’ve landed to games with just 11 players despite having 28 signed, but it’s not bothering us because we haven’t lost a game since October 2022. 

“I just hope it doesn’t come back to bite us later in the season.” 

With a strong side that holds the best scoring difference in the league with plus 43, which is twice that of the second-best team Glencar who have plus 21, McLaughlin praises his players for their years of commitment to the side, in what is now his fifth and final season in charge. 

“I’ve been very lucky in my time here as a manager in the fact that the players follow the easiest drinking ban in the world, they stay in on Friday, play on Saturday, and go out after the game that night if they want. So, everyone is happy,” joked McLaughlin. 

“It’s important to stress, that we’ve been undefeated for so long, but we’ve been lucky too in the results we’ve been getting, nothing has come to us easily, but the players always give their all.  

“It’s a very competitive league, like when we won it two years ago, we only got our hands on the trophy on the second last day and last year we only won it on the last day when we beat Kildrum Tigers. 

“Every year we seem to never get off to a good start, now luckily this season we got off to a flying start and got a run of victories but we’re just struggling so much with injuries, so the last few months is going to really test us and we will get to see how much left the players have in the legs.” 

However, with news that most of his squad will soon be returning to full fitness, the job for Oldtown Celtic is to see their season out on a high note as they aim for the three in-a-row. 

“The players are coming back soon from injury thankfully,” the manager stated.  

“We played against Donegal Town a few weeks ago and it was the first time this season we could play actual wingers instead of defenders on the wing. 

“We know we have a long way to go yet, this league is very up and down. One year we won it, and we were in seventh position in the table, 12 points from the top at one stage, so you can’t underestimate any team. 

“This is my final year as manager, I’m 57 now and I’m the oldest manager in the league, I just want to go out on a high.”